Press releases 2009http://press.web.cern.ch/press-releases/2009?created=
CERN press office - press releasesenLHC ends 2009 run on a high notehttp://press.web.cern.ch/press-releases/2009/12/lhc-ends-2009-run-high-note
<span class="submitted-by">18 Dec 2009</span>
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<a href="http://press.web.cern.ch/sites/press.web.cern.ch/files/image/press/old/Spiro_0.jpg"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://press.web.cern.ch/sites/press.web.cern.ch/files/image/press/old/Spiro_0.jpg" width="561" height="374" alt="" /></a> </div>
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<p>Michel Spiro (left) and Torsten Åkesson</p>
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<p>Geneva, 18 December 2009. At its 153rd session today, the CERN<sup><a href="#footneote1">1</a></sup> Council heard that the Large Hadron Collider ended its first full period of operation in style on Wednesday 16 December. Collisions at 2.36TeV recorded since last weekend have set a new world record and brought to a close a successful first run for the world’s most powerful particle accelerator. The LHC has now been put into standby mode, and will restart in February 2010 following a short technical stop to prepare for higher energy collisions and the start of the main research programme.</p>
<p>The LHC circulated its first beams of 2009 on 20 November, ushering in a remarkably rapid beam-commissioning phase. The first collisions were recorded on 23 November, and a world-record beam energy was established on 30 November. Following those milestones, a systematic phase of LHC commissioning led to an extended data-taking period to provide data for the experiments. Over the last two weeks, the six LHC experiments have recorded over a million particle collisions, which have been distributed smoothly for analysis around the world on the LHC computing grid.</p>
<p>“Council is extremely pleased and impressed by the way the LHC, the experiments and the computing Grid have operated this year,” said President of Council Torsten Åkesson. “The laboratory set itself an ambitious but realistic programme at its February planning meeting. The fact that all the objectives set back then have been achieved is a ringing endorsement of the step-by-step approach adopted by the CERN management.”</p>
<p>A technical stop is needed to prepare the LHC for higher energy running in 2010. Before the 2009 running period began, all the necessary preparations to run up to a collision energy of 2.36 TeV had been carried out. To run at higher energy requires higher electrical currents in the LHC magnet circuits. This places more exacting demands on the new machine protection systems, which need to be readied for the task. Commissioning work for higher energies will be carried out in January, along with necessary adaptations to the hardware and software of the protections systems that have come to light during the 2009 run. Taking advantage of the stop, the CMS experiment will upgrade part of its water cooling system.</p>
<p>“So far, it is all systems go for the LHC,” said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. “This first running period has served its purpose fully: testing all the LHC’s systems, providing calibration data for the experiments and showing what needs to be done to prepare the machine for a sustained period of running at higher energy. We could not have asked for a better way to bring 2009 to a close.”</p>
<p>Among other Council business was the question of geographic enlargement of CERN. Council heard from a working group established in 2008 to examine this question, and accepted a series of guiding principles concerning the geographic enlargement of CERN, with a possible associate status involving balanced benefits and obligations being developed. In parallel, CERN has received five applications for membership over the past 12 months. Council decided to establish a working group to undertake the tasks of technical verification and fact-finding relating to these applications.</p>
<p>This was the last Council meeting to be chaired by Professor Åkesson, who hands over the Council’s Presidency to Professor Michel Spiro, Director of the French National institute of nuclear and particle physics (CNRS/IN2P3).</p>
<p>“It has been a privilege to preside over the CERN Council during this crucial phase in the history of CERN and of particle physics,” said Professor Åkesson, “and I am very pleased to be handing over to my friend and colleague Michel Spiro on such a high note.”</p>
<p>“I am greatly honoured to have been elected President of the CERN Council,” said Professor Spiro. “I will be the Council’s 20th President, and it is with humility that I take up the mantle of my illustrious predecessors, not least Professor Åkesson, who has made significant progress with the Organization over the term of his mandate. With the first results from the LHC eagerly anticipated, the period ahead promises to be a golden era: it is these results that will shape the future of particle physics and of CERN.”</p>
<p>See <a href="http://cern.ch/council/">full details of the 153rd meeting of the CERN Council</a>.</p>
<h3>Contact in CERN:</h3>
<p>James Gillies, <a href="mailto:james.gillies@cern.ch">James.Gillies@cern.ch</a>, +41 22 767 41 01.</p>
<h3>Contact in IN2P3:</h3>
<p>Christina Cantrel, <a href="mailto:ccantrel@admin.in2p3.fr">ccantrel@admin.in2p3.fr</a>, +33 (0)1 44 96 47 60.</p>
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Footnote(s) </h3>
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<p>CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world's leading laboratory for particle physics. It has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Romania is a candidate for accession. Israel is an Associate Member in the pre-stage to Membership. India, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have Observer status.</p>
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Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:00:00 +0000Cian O'Luanaigh158 at http://press.web.cern.chLHC ends 2009 run on a high notehttp://press.web.cern.ch/press-releases/2009/12/lhc-ends-2009-run-high-note-0
<span class="submitted-by">18 Dec 2009</span>
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<p>Geneva, 18 December 2009. At its 153<sup>rd</sup> session today, the CERN<sup>1</sup> Council heard that the Large Hadron Collider ended its first full period of operation in style on Wednesday 16 December. Collisions at 2.36TeV recorded since last weekend have set a new world record and brought to a close a successful first run for the world’s most powerful particle accelerator. The LHC has now been put into standby mode, and will restart in February 2010 following a short technical stop to prepare for higher energy collisions and the start of the main research programme.</p>
<p>The LHC circulated its first beams of 2009 on 20 November, ushering in a remarkably rapid beam-commissioning phase. The first collisions were recorded on 23 November, and a world-record beam energy was established on 30 November. Following those milestones, a systematic phase of LHC commissioning led to an extended data-taking period to provide data for the experiments. Over the last two weeks, the six LHC experiments have recorded over a million particle collisions, which have been distributed smoothly for analysis around the world on the LHC computing grid.</p>
<p><em>“Council is extremely pleased and impressed by the way the LHC, the experiments and the computing Grid have operated this year,”</em> said President of Council Torsten Åkesson. <em>“The laboratory set itself an ambitious but realistic programme at its February planning meeting. The fact that all the objectives set back then have been achieved is a ringing endorsement of the step-by-step approach adopted by the CERN management.”</em></p>
<p>A technical stop is needed to prepare the LHC for higher energy running in 2010. Before the 2009 running period began, all the necessary preparations to run up to a collision energy of 2.36 TeV had been carried out. To run at higher energy requires higher electrical currents in the LHC magnet circuits. This places more exacting demands on the new machine protection systems, which need to be readied for the task. Commissioning work for higher energies will be carried out in January, along with necessary adaptations to the hardware and software of the protections systems that have come to light during the 2009 run. Taking advantage of the stop, the CMS experiment will upgrade part of its water cooling system.</p>
<p><em>“So far, it is all systems go for the LHC,”</em> said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. <em>“This first running period has served its purpose fully: testing all the LHC’s systems, providing calibration data for the experiments and showing what needs to be done to prepare the machine for a sustained period of running at higher energy. We could not have asked for a better way to bring 2009 to a close.”</em></p>
<p>Among other Council business was the question of geographic enlargement of CERN. Council heard from a working group established in 2008 to examine this question, and accepted a series of guiding principles concerning the geographic enlargement of CERN, with a possible associate status involving balanced benefits and obligations being developed. In parallel, CERN has received five applications for membership over the past 12 months. Council decided to establish a working group to undertake the tasks of technical verification and fact-finding relating to these applications.</p>
<p>This was the last Council meeting to be chaired by Professor Åkesson, who hands over the Council’s Presidency to Professor Michel Spiro, Director of the French National institute of nuclear and particle physics (CNRS/IN2P3).</p>
<p><em>“It has been a privilege to preside over the CERN Council during this crucial phase in the history of CERN and of particle physics,”</em> said Professor Åkesson, <em>“and I am very pleased to be handing over to my friend and colleague Michel Spiro on such a high note.”</em></p>
<p><em>“I am greatly honoured to have been elected President of the CERN Council,”</em> said Professor Spiro. <em>“I will be the Council’s 20<sup>th</sup> President, and it is with humility that I take up the mantle of my illustrious predecessors, not least Professor Åkesson, who has made significant progress with the Organization over the term of his mandate. With the first results from the LHC eagerly anticipated, the period ahead promises to be a golden era: it is these results that will shape the future of particle physics and of CERN.”</em></p>
<p>Further details of the 153<sup>rd</sup> session of the CERN Council will be made available on the web at: <a href="http://www.cern.ch/council">http://www.cern.ch/council</a></p>
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Footnote(s) </h3>
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<p>1. CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, operates the world's leading laboratory for particle physics. It has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. India, Israel, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have Observer status.</p>
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Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:00:00 +0000Joanna Iwanska1014 at http://press.web.cern.chCERN Colour X-ray Technology Set to Save Liveshttp://press.web.cern.ch/press-releases/2009/12/cern-colour-x-ray-technology-set-save-lives
<span class="submitted-by">14 Dec 2009</span>
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<p>Geneva, 14 December 2009 Medical studies are soon to start with the MARS scanner, a revolutionary CT scanner developed by the University of Canterbury<sup>1</sup>, New Zealand. The scanner, which incorporates technology developed at the world’s leading particle physics research centre, CERN<sup>2</sup>, was recently shipped to research partners in North America. Today a student from Canterbury arrives in North America to use the scanner to study heart disease. This development puts the technology, known as Medipix<sup>3</sup>, firmly on the path to saving lives.</p>
<p>Using technology developed for the Large Hadron Collider, the Medipix detector has shown to have many more uses than just high-energy physics. The new scanner will be used in research to better understand deadly conditions such as heart disease. This is the first stage in an ongoing collaboration with leading research institutions around the world including CERN, the Czech Technical University, and the universities of Canterbury and Otago.</p>
<p>Dr Michael Campbell, spokesman for the Medipix collaborations, said: “It was requirements of the Large Hadron Collider which led to the development of the technology. The Medipix collaborations have adapted the technology to create new detectors which fundamentally change how x-ray images are taken and used.”</p>
<p>Professor Emmanuel Tsesmelis of the CERN Directorate Office said: “CERN is delighted to see that particle detectors developed for high energy physics are finding uses in medical diagnosis. This exciting news is showing the benefits to humanity of research collaborations that cross the oceans.”</p>
<p>Professor Rolf Heuer, CERN Director General, said: “Basic science is the ultimate driver of innovation – without it there is no science to apply. This is a great example of that process in action.”</p>
<p>The University of Canterbury's MARS (Medipix All Resolution System) scanner promises to revolutionise the medical imaging world with x–ray colour. This advance gives more information for diagnosis and treatment aimed at improving healthcare. The technology moves x-ray imaging from black and white to colour images. The colour information has always been there, but there has never been a way to directly image it. The Medipix chips can separate this colour information opening up significant possibilities for enhanced medical imaging.</p>
<p>Dr Anthony Butler, the lead radiology researcher on the project in New Zealand said; “This cements a valuable research collaboration that will explore the potential of the technology and improve the scanner for use in medicine. It is exciting to be able to take technology developed for high energy physics into biomedical research that could lead to improved healthcare. We are surprising ourselves with new CT images that show disease in a way that has never been seen before.”</p>
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<h3 class="field-label">
Footnote(s) </h3>
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<p>CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world's leading laboratory for particle physics. It has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Romania is a candidate for accession. Israel is an Associate Member in the pre-stage to Membership. India, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have Observer status.</p>
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<p>2. CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world's leading laboratory for particle physics. It has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. India, Israel, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have Observer status.</p>
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<p>3. The Medipix2 and Medipix3 Collaborations consist of many international partners. The Medipix3 chip is capable of producing colour X-ray images. More details about the technology and the Collaborations are available at: <a href="http://www.cern.ch/medipix">http://www.cern.ch/medipix</a></p>
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Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:00:00 +0000Cian O'Luanaigh190 at http://press.web.cern.chLHC sets new world recordhttp://press.web.cern.ch/press-releases/2009/11/lhc-sets-new-world-record
<span class="submitted-by">30 Nov 2009</span>
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<p>Geneva, 30 November 2009. CERN<sup>1</sup>’s Large Hadron Collider has today become the world’s highest energy particle accelerator, having accelerated its twin beams of protons to an energy of 1.18 TeV in the early hours of the morning. This exceeds the previous world record of 0.98 TeV, which had been held by the US Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory’s Tevatron collider since 2001. It marks another important milestone on the road to first physics at the LHC in 2010.</p>
<p>“We are still coming to terms with just how smoothly the LHC commissioning is going,” said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. “It is fantastic. However, we are continuing to take it step by step, and there is still a lot to do before we start physics in 2010. I’m keeping my champagne on ice until then.”</p>
<p>These developments come just 10 days after the LHC restart, demonstrating the excellent performance of the machine. First beams were injected into the LHC on Friday 20 November. Over the following days, the machine’s operators circulated beams around the ring alternately in one direction and then the other at the injection energy of 450 GeV, gradually increasing the beam lifetime to around 10 hours. On Monday 23 November, two beams circulated together for the first time, and the four big LHC detectors recorded their first collision data.</p>
<p>Last night’s achievement brings further confirmation that the LHC is progressing smoothly towards the objective of first physics early in 2010. The world record energy was first broken yesterday evening, when beam 1 was accelerated from 450 GeV, reaching 1050 GeV (1.05 TeV) at 21:48, Sunday 29 November. Three hours later both LHC beams were successfully accelerated to 1.18 TeV, at 00:44, 30 November.</p>
<p>“I was here 20 years ago when we switched on CERN’s last major particle accelerator, LEP,” said Accelerators and Technology Director Steve Myers. “I thought that was a great machine to operate, but this is something else. What took us days or weeks with LEP, we’re doing in hours with the LHC. So far, it all augurs well for a great research programme.”</p>
<p>Next on the schedule is a concentrated commissioning phase aimed at increasing the beam intensity before delivering good quantities of collision data to the experiments before Christmas. So far, all the LHC commissioning work has been carried out with a low intensity pilot beam. Higher intensity is needed to provide meaningful proton-proton collision rates. The current commissioning phase aims to make sure that these higher intensities can be safely handled and that stable conditions can be guaranteed for the experiments during collisions. This phase is estimated to take around a week, after which the LHC will be colliding beams for calibration purposes until the end of the year.</p>
<p>First physics at the LHC is scheduled for the first quarter of 2010, at a collision energy of 7 TeV (3.5 TeV per beam).</p>
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<h3 class="field-label">
Footnote(s) </h3>
<div class="field-footnote footnote-item">
<p>CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world's leading laboratory for particle physics. It has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Romania is a candidate for accession. Israel is an Associate Member in the pre-stage to Membership. India, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have Observer status.</p>
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Mon, 30 Nov 2009 09:00:00 +0000Cian O'Luanaigh192 at http://press.web.cern.chTwo circulating beams bring first collisions in the LHChttp://press.web.cern.ch/press-releases/2009/11/two-circulating-beams-bring-first-collisions-lhc
<span class="submitted-by">23 Nov 2009</span>
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<a href="http://press.web.cern.ch/sites/press.web.cern.ch/files/image/press/old/TwoBeams.jpg"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://press.web.cern.ch/sites/press.web.cern.ch/files/image/press/old/TwoBeams.jpg" width="270" height="480" alt="" /></a> </div>
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<p>Screen showing two beams in the LHC (Image: CERN)</p>
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<p>Geneva, 23 November 2009. Today the LHC circulated two beams simultaneously for the first time, allowing the operators to test the synchronization of the beams and giving the experiments their first chance to look for proton-proton collisions. With just one bunch of particles circulating in each direction, the beams can be made to cross in up to two places in the ring. From early in the afternoon, the beams were made to cross at points 1 and 5, home to the ATLAS and CMS detectors, both of which were on the look out for collisions. Later, beams crossed at points 2 and 8, ALICE and LHCb.</p>
<p>“It’s a great achievement to have come this far in so short a time,” said CERN<sup>1</sup>Director General Rolf Heuer. “But we need to keep a sense of perspective – there’s still much to do before we can start the LHC physics programme.”</p>
<p>Beams were first tuned to produce collisions in the ATLAS detector, which recorded its first candidate for collisions at 14:22 this afternoon. Later, the beams were optimised for CMS. In the evening, ALICE had the first optimization, followed by LHCb.</p>
<p>“This is great news, the start of a fantastic era of physics and hopefully discoveries after 20 years' work by the international community to build a machine and detectors of unprecedented complexity and performance," said ATLAS spokesperson, Fabiola Gianotti.</p>
<p>“The events so far mark the start of the second half of this incredible voyage of discovery of the secrets of nature,” said CMS spokesperson Tejinder Virdee.</p>
<p>“It was standing room only in the ALICE control room and cheers erupted with the first collisions” said ALICE spokesperson Jurgen Schukraft. “This is simply tremendous.”</p>
<p>“The tracks we’re seeing are beautiful,” said LHCb spokesperson Andrei Golutvin, “we’re all ready for serious data taking in a few days time.”</p>
<p>These developments come just three days after the LHC restart, demonstrating the excellent performance of the beam control system. Since the start-up, the operators have been circulating beams around the ring alternately in one direction and then the other at the injection energy of 450 GeV. The beam lifetime has gradually been increased to 10 hours, and today beams have been circulating simultaneously in both directions, still at the injection energy.</p>
<p>Next on the schedule is an intense commissioning phase aimed at increasing the beam intensity and accelerating the beams. All being well, by Christmas, the LHC should reach 1.2 TeV per beam, and have provided good quantities of collision data for the experiments’ calibrations.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="/sites/press.web.cern.ch/files/image/inline-images/old/ALICE%20event.png" /></p>
<p><img alt="" src="/sites/press.web.cern.ch/files/image/inline-images/old/ATLAS-event.jpg" /></p>
<p><img alt="" src="/sites/press.web.cern.ch/files/image/inline-images/old/CMS-event.jpg" style="width: 448px; height: 341px; " /></p>
<p><img alt="" src="/sites/press.web.cern.ch/files/image/inline-images/old/LHCB%20event.jpg" style="width: 448px; height: 248px; " /></p>
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<h3 class="field-label">
Footnote(s) </h3>
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<p>1. CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world's leading laboratory for particle physics. It has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. India, Israel, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have Observer status.</p>
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Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:10:00 +0000Cian O'Luanaigh210 at http://press.web.cern.chThe LHC is backhttp://press.web.cern.ch/press-releases/2009/11/lhc-back
<span class="submitted-by">20 Nov 2009</span>
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<p>Geneva, 20 November 2009. Particle beams are once again circulating in the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, CERN<sup>1</sup>’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This news comes after the machine was handed over for operation on Wednesday morning. A clockwise circulating beam was established at ten o'clock this evening. This is an important milestone on the road towards first physics at the LHC, expected in 2010.</p>
<p>“It’s great to see beam circulating in the LHC again,” said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. “We’ve still got some way to go before physics can begin, but with this milestone we’re well on the way.”</p>
<p>The LHC circulated its first beams on 10 September 2008, but suffered a serious malfunction nine days later. A failure in an electrical connection led to serious damage, and CERN has spent over a year repairing and consolidating the machine to ensure that such an incident cannot happen again.</p>
<p>“The LHC is a far better understood machine than it was a year ago,” said CERN’s Director for Accelerators, Steve Myers. “We’ve learned from our experience, and engineered the technology that allows us to move on. That’s how progress is made.”</p>
<p>Recommissioning the LHC began in the summer, and successive milestones have regularly been passed since then. The LHC reached its operating temperature of 1.9 Kelvin, or about -271 Celsius, on 8 October. Particles were injected on 23 October, but not circulated. A beam was steered through three octants of the machine on 7 November, and circulating beams have now been re-established. The next important milestone will be low-energy collisions, expected in about a week from now. These will give the experimental collaborations their first collision data, enabling important calibration work to be carried out. This is significant, since up to now, all the data they have recorded comes from cosmic rays. Ramping the beams to high energy will follow in preparation for collisions at 7 TeV (3.5 TeV per beam) next year.</p>
<p>Particle physics is a global endeavour, and CERN has received support from around the world in getting the LHC up and running again.</p>
<p>“It’s been a herculean effort to get to where we are today,” said Myers. “I’d like to thank all those who have taken part, from CERN and from our partner institutions around the world.”</p>
<p>A press conference will be held at CERN, at the Globe of Science and Innovation, at 2pm on Monday 23 November, and webcast at: <a href="http://webcast.cern.ch/">http://webcast.cern.ch/</a>. Submit your questions to @CERN via Twitter. We cannot guarantee that all questions will be answered.</p>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.twitter.com/cern">Follow LHC progress on Twitter</a></li>
<li><a href="http://press.web.cern.ch/press/lhc-first-physics/">Photos, video and latest information</a><br />
</li>
</ul> </div>
<h3 class="field-label">
Footnote(s) </h3>
<div class="field-footnote footnote-item">
<p>1. CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world's leading laboratory for particle physics. It has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. India, Israel, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have Observer status.</p>
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Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:00:00 +0000Cian O'Luanaigh212 at http://press.web.cern.ch"Voyage to the Heart of Matter" in pop-up form http://press.web.cern.ch/press-releases/2009/10/voyage-heart-matter-pop-form
<span class="submitted-by">19 Oct 2009</span>
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<p>Geneva, 19 October 2009. <em>Voyage to the Heart of Matter</em>, a new pop-up book about the science of CERN<sup>1</sup>'s Large Hadron Collider (LHC), focusing on the ATLAS experiment, will be published on 9 November in London. Other language editions will follow. Journalists are invited to the press launch of the UK edition at 10am on 9 November at the Royal Institution<sup>2</sup> Time &amp; Space Café, where they will be able to pick up a review copy. There will also be interview opportunities with physicists at this exciting time just before first physics at the LHC.</p>
<p>At the LHC, protons travelling at nearly the speed of light collide 40 million times a second within the heart of particle detectors like ATLAS, sending out showers of debris, to recreate the conditions that existed millionths of a second after the big bang, the event that set our universe in motion. Now readers of all ages can join the ATLAS Experiment on this fascinating journey to the beginnings of the universe.</p>
<p>In this unique collaboration between ATLAS and renowned paper engineer Anton Radevsky, 7000 tonnes of metal, glass, plastic, cables and computer chips leap from the page in miniature pop-up, to tell the story of CERN’s quest to understand the birth of the universe.</p>
<p>The UK edition of the book is published by Papadakis.</p>
<p>To sign up for the launch: Due to limited space, those interested in attending should register on this <a href="http://www.stfc.ac.uk/forms/mediaevent.aspx">STFC</a><sup>3</sup> website before 26 October.</p>
<p>Physicists present: Dave Charlton is deputy spokesperson of the ATLAS collaboration and works for the University of Birmingham. Dan Tovey leads the ATLAS group at the University of Sheffield and is deputy spokesperson of ATLAS-UK. Pippa Wells is a UK physicist based at CERN and is the project leader of the ATLAS inner detector.</p>
<h3>Further information:</h3>
<ul><li>CERN Press office +41 (0)22 76 721 41 or +41 (0)22 76 734 32 <a href="mailto:press.office@cern.ch">press.office@cern.ch</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.cern.ch">CERN</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.atlas.ch">ATLAS</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.papadakis.net">Papadakis</a></li>
</ul><p>Papadakis Publisher: <a href="mailto:sarah.roberts@papadakis.net">Sarah Roberts</a> Tel. +44 (0) 16 35 24 88 33</p>
<h3>The book:</h3>
<ul><li>280 x 220mm (portrait) in full colour</li>
<li>Hardback (8 pages) ISBN 9781906506063</li>
<li>Papadakis Publisher, London</li>
<li>£20.00</li>
<li>The book is available for purchase from end November. Review copies are available from 9 November. Journalists unable to attend the launch to pick up their review copy should contact Papadakis.<br /><a href="http://atlas.ch/popupbook/">Download photos of the book</a></li>
</ul><h3>About the authors:</h3>
<p>Anton Radevsky is a pop-up engineer and illustrator and lives in Sofia, Bulgaria. His previous books include<em> The Modern Architecture Pop-Up Book, The Pop-Up Book Of Space Craft</em> and<em> The Wild West Pop-Up Book</em>.</p>
<p>Emma Sanders is a member of CERN’s education and outreach team, and developer of the Laboratory’s Microcosm exhibition centre.</p>
<h3>The launch:</h3>
<p>The launch takes place from 10am to 11.30am on 9 November at</p>
<p>The Royal Institution of Great Britain<br />
21 Albemarle Street,<br />
London<br />
W1S 4BS<br />
+44 (0)20 7409 2992</p>
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<h3 class="field-label">
Footnote(s) </h3>
<div class="field-footnote footnote-item">
<p>1. CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world's leading laboratory for particle physics. It has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. India, Israel, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have Observer status.</p>
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<div class="field-footnote footnote-item">
<p>2. The Royal Institution is the UK’s leading science based community delivering balanced, relevant understanding of science and its impact on our rapidly changing world. As an independent charity, it is dedicated to increasing knowledge, excitement and involvement in science and technology for current and future generations.</p>
</div>
<div class="field-footnote footnote-item">
<p>3. The UK Science and Technology Facilities Council promotes and supports high-quality scientific and engineering research. The Council funds researchers in universities and provides access to world-class facilities, both in the UK and abroad, including CERN. In addition, the Council encourages public engagement with science, communicating research results and promoting dialogue.</p>
</div>
Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:00:00 +0000Cian O'Luanaigh214 at http://press.web.cern.chCinéGlobe 2010 international short film festival invites films for three competitionshttp://press.web.cern.ch/press-releases/2009/08/cineglobe-2010-international-short-film-festival-invites-films-three
<span class="submitted-by">19 Aug 2009</span>
<div class="field-body">
<p>Geneva, 19 August. The next edition of the CinéGlobe International Short Film Festival will take place the 16-20th of February 2010 at CERN<sup>1</sup> near Geneva, Switzerland. Filmmakers are invited to submit their work to one of three competitions:</p>
<ul><li>General fiction up to ten minutes (deadline for submissions: 14th September 2009)</li>
<li>Science-fiction or scientific fiction up to twenty minutes (deadline for submissions: 30th September 2009)</li>
<li>Science documentary up to thirty minutes (deadline for submissions: 30th September 2009)</li>
</ul><p>Entry is free via <a href="http://shortfilmdepot.com">shortfilmdepot.com</a> - review copies can be sent on DVD or can be uploaded via the <a href="http://cineglobe.ch">festival website</a>. There is no limit to the number of films that may be submitted.</p>
<ul><li><a href="http://shortfilmdepot.com/infos_festivals/cineglobe/rgt10_en.pdf">Download the festival rules</a></li>
<li><a href="http://cineglobe.ch/2007/trailer.mov">Download the trailer from the previous edition </a></li>
<li>Contact <a href="mailto:films@cineglobe.ch">films@cineglobe.ch</a> for inquiries concerning submitting a film.</li>
</ul><p>CinéGlobe 2010 is organized by <a href="http://www.openyoureyesfilms.ch/">Open Your Eyes Films</a><sup>2</sup>, CERN and the Bureau Culturel de la ville de Meyrin.</p>
<p>Contact: Quentin King<br />
Chairman of the Selection Committee<br />
Email: <a href="mailto:info@cineglobe.ch">info@cineglobe.ch</a><br />
Tel: +41 22 767 8473</p>
</div>
<h3 class="field-label">
Footnote(s) </h3>
<div class="field-footnote footnote-item">
<p>1. CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world's leading laboratory for particle physics. It has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Romania is a candidate for accession. Israel is an Associate Member in the pre-stage to Membership. India, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have Observer status.</p>
</div>
<div class="field-footnote footnote-item">
<p>2. <a href="http://www.openyoureyesfilms.ch/">Open Your Eyes Films</a> is a non-profit association based at CERN and dedicated to making and promoting short films</p>
</div>
Wed, 19 Aug 2009 08:00:00 +0000Cian O'Luanaigh216 at http://press.web.cern.chLHC to run at 3.5 TeV for early part of 2009-2010 run rising laterhttp://press.web.cern.ch/press-releases/2009/08/lhc-run-35-tev-early-part-2009-2010-run-rising-later
<span class="submitted-by">06 Aug 2009</span>
<div class="field-body">
<p>Geneva, 6 August 2009. CERN's<sup>1</sup> Large Hadron Collider will initially run at an energy of 3.5 TeV per beam when it starts up in November this year. This news comes after all tests on the machine's high-current electrical connections were completed last week, indicating that no further repairs are necessary for safe running.</p>
<p>"We've selected 3.5 TeV to start," said CERN's Director General, Rolf Heuer, "because it allows the LHC operators to gain experience of running the machine safely while opening up a new discovery region for the experiments."</p>
<p>Following the incident of 19 September 2008 that brought the LHC to a standstill, testing has focused on the 10,000 high-current superconducting electrical connections like the one that led to the fault. These consist of two parts: the superconductor itself, and a copper stabilizer that carries the current in case the superconductor warms up and stops superconducting, a so-called quench. In their normal superconducting state, there is negligible electrical resistance across these connections, but in a small number of cases abnormally high resistances have been found in the superconductor. These have been repaired. However, there remain a number of cases where the resistance in the copper stabilizer connections is higher than it should be for running at full energy.</p>
<p>The latest tests looked at the resistance of the copper stabilizer. Many copper connections showing anomalously high resistance have been repaired already, and the tests on the final two sectors, which concluded last week, have revealed no more outliers. This means that no more repairs are necessary for safe running this year and next.</p>
<p>"The LHC is a much better understood machine than it was a year ago," said Heuer. "We can look forward with confidence and excitement to a good run through the winter and into next year."</p>
<p>The procedure for the 2009 start-up will be to inject and capture beams in each direction, take collision data for a few shifts at the injection energy, and then commission the ramp to higher energy. The first high-energy data should be collected a few weeks after the first beam of 2009 is injected. The LHC will run at 3.5 TeV per beam until a significant data sample has been collected and the operations team has gained experience in running the machine. Thereafter, with the benefit of that experience, the energy will be taken towards 5 TeV per beam. At the end of 2010, the LHC will be run with lead ions for the first time. After that, the LHC will shut down and work will begin on moving the machine towards 7 TeV per beam.</p>
<p>CERN is publishing regular updates on the LHC in its internal Bulletin, available at <a href="http://www.cern.ch/bulletin">cern.ch/bulletin</a>, as well as via twitter and YouTube at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/cern">twitter.com/cern</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/cern">youtube.com/cern</a></p>
<p>Contact : James Gillies, Press Office<br />
Tel. +41 22 767 4101<br />
Cell. : +41 76 487 4555</p>
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<h3 class="field-label">
Footnote(s) </h3>
<div class="field-footnote footnote-item">
<p>CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world's leading laboratory for particle physics. It has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Romania is a candidate for accession. Israel is an Associate Member in the pre-stage to Membership. India, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have Observer status.</p>
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Thu, 06 Aug 2009 08:00:00 +0000Cian O'Luanaigh218 at http://press.web.cern.chCERN and EU Commission agree on closer scientific partnershiphttp://press.web.cern.ch/press-releases/2009/07/cern-and-eu-commission-agree-closer-scientific-partnership
<span class="submitted-by">17 Jul 2009</span>
<div class="field-body">
<p>Geneva, 17 July 2009. Today in Brussels, CERN<sup>1</sup> and the European Commission are to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which aims to enhance the long-standing partnership between the two organizations. The MoU will provide a structured framework for cooperation across a broad range of issues of common interest, with emphasis on consolidating and further developing the European Research Area and facilitating the implementation of the European Strategy for Particle Physics, as defined by the CERN Council.</p>
<p>The President of the CERN Council, Professor Torsten Åkesson welcomed the signing of the MoU: "The CERN Member States have given the Organization the responsibility to operate laboratories for research on high energy particles and the organization of international co-operation in this domain. To do this, CERN operates its world-leading laboratory and the CERN Council ensures a coherent European Strategy for Particle Physics. The EU is promoting cooperation in research between Member States with the aim of creating the European Research Area. We recognize each other's roles and look forward to working together for the benefit of European research."</p>
<p>EU Commissioner for Science and Research Janez Potočnik said: "Since its founding 55 years ago, CERN has been a shining example of international collaboration of excellence in particle physics. It contributes to realizing the European Research Area, this single market for research and knowledge that we strive to build. At a time when the EU needs to step up investment and cooperation in research, closely engaging organizations of the calibre of CERN in the process will be a strong asset."</p>
<p>The MoU provides for the European Commission and CERN to:</p>
<ul><li>Cooperate in order to consolidate and further develop the European Research Area in all its important dimensions, as well as in the following up and implementation of the European Strategy for Particle Physics as defined by the CERN Council.</li>
<li>Consult and exchange information on issues of mutual interest.</li>
</ul><p>Cooperation between the two sides will be based on areas of common interest, with due regard to their respective competences, institutional settings and operational frameworks.</p>
<p>The two sides agree that there exists an enormous potential for cooperation in a remarkably broad range of areas, such as: research programming, training and mobility of researchers, science education, open publishing, technology transfer, innovation, building next generation infrastructures (including e-infrastructures) and global scientific cooperation.</p>
<p>CERN’s Director-General, Professor Rolf-Dieter Heuer said: “Links between CERN and the EU have strengthened as Europe has pursued the goal of creating a European Research Area. This has allowed CERN to benefit from European support for projects as varied as Grid computing and future accelerator R&amp;D, as well as numerous Marie Curie fellows whose careers have received a boost thanks to European funds. This MoU allows CERN and the EU to drive forward the collaboration for the benefit of European science and ultimately for all of us.”</p>
<p>For the text of the MoU in the Official Journal see:<br /><a href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:161:0013:0015:EN:PDF">http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/[... - 710kB PDF]</a></p>
<h3>Resources</h3>
<ul><li><a href="http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1190971">Video</a></li>
<li><a href="http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/photo/photo.cfm?id=3666&amp;sitelang=en">Photos</a></li>
</ul><h3>Notes for editors</h3>
<p>The European Strategy for Particle Physics was adopted by CERN Council on 14 July 2006. The European Strategy Session of Council provides the organizational structure to implement and update the strategy as defined in the Strategy Statement approved by Council. (<a href="http://council.cern.ch">http://council.cern.ch</a>, "European Strategy Sessions" )</p>
<h3>Contact</h3>
<p>CERN Press Office: +41 22 767 2141 / +41 22 767 6333<br /><a href="mailto:press.office@cern.ch">press.office@cern.ch</a></p>
<p>Catherine Ray: +32 2 296 99 21<br />
gsm: +32 498 96 99 21<br /><a href="mailto:catherine.ray@ec.europa.eu">catherine.ray@ec.europa.eu</a></p>
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<h3 class="field-label">
Footnote(s) </h3>
<div class="field-footnote footnote-item">
<p>CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world's leading laboratory for particle physics. It has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Romania is a candidate for accession. Israel is an Associate Member in the pre-stage to Membership. India, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have Observer status.</p>
</div>
Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:00:00 +0000Cian O'Luanaigh220 at http://press.web.cern.ch